Amidst the ongoing centenary commemorations of the First World War it is worth considering more the 150th anniversary of another, related conflict. The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 brought to an end the "struggle for mastery in Germany" between Prussia and Austria. But it also heralded a glorification of the concept of the nation-state in contrast to the defeated supra/multi-national "imperial" model of the Habsburg Monarchy. Subsequent history has shown, however, that the nation-state model proved a disastrous mistake in Central Europe, and the European Union is in many respects the heir to the Habsburg imperial model. The talk will discuss how the dialectic between nation, state, empire and now Union developed, and look at the lessons of this for today's Europe.

Steven Beller has written widely on Austrian, Jewish and Central European history. His books include Vienna and the Jews, 1867-1938: A Cultural History (Cambridge University Press, 1989); Herzl (Halban, 1991); Francis Joseph (Longman, 1996); A Concise History of Austria (Cambridge, 2006); Antisemitism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2008; 2nd ed. 2015) and Democracy: All That Matters (Hodder, 2013). He also edited and introduced the anthology Rethinking Vienna 1900 (Berghahn, 2001). He is currently an independent scholar resident in Washington DC.

When: Wednesday, October 5, 2016 | 7:30 pmWhere: Austrian Cultural Forum, 3524 International Court, NW, Washington, DC, 20008Tickets: General admission is free and open to the public. Please reserve your ticket at: http://bit.ly/2czls9mThe event is followed by a reception with Austrian refreshments.

A prize-winning Austrian-Slovene novelist, poet, playwright, and translator, Maja Haderlap will discuss her novel Angel of Oblivion, recently translated into English by Tess Lewis and published by Archipelago Books. The novel won the highly prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann prize in 2011 and, in 2015, France’s Prix du Premier Roman. The book's translator Tess Lewis received the 2016 ACFNY Translation Award.

Angel of Oblivion (Angel pozabe in Slovenian, Engel des Vergessens in German) is inspired by the experiences of Maja Haderlap’s family and the Slovenian-speaking minority in southern Austria, many of whom fought as partisans against the Nazis during the Second World War. The story centers around a young girl learning to navigate the terrain between two hostile communities and two extremely burdened languages: Slovenian, a language of heroic resistance and continued humiliation; and German, an escape from her stifling rural upbringing but also the language of the camps which her grandmother barely survived and many other family members did not. Engaging with themes of tolerance and integration, the weight of history, the effects of conflicts on survivors and their children, and language’s role in shaping identity, Haderlap’s novel strikes at problems of paramount importance to our world today.

When: Wednesday, September 28, 2016 | 12 pmWhere: European Division conference room, LJ-250, 101 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC, 20540 (2nd floor, Thomas Jefferson Building) Tickets: General admission is free and open to the public. There is no registration required.Further information:https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/calendar/calendar.htmlThe event is presented in cooperation with the European Division of the Library of Congress and the Embassy of Slovenia.

The Alexander Zemlinsky Fonds and the ACFDC present a concert by Steven Scheschareg, reciting songs of exiled Viennese composers.

ProgramSong recital with Lieder by Alexander ZemlinskyTonal works by Franz Schreker, Arnold Schönberg and Karl WeiglAccompanied on piano by Mitchell Cirker

The Austrian-American bass-baritone Steven Scheschareg has gained widespread acclaim for his striking stage presence, strong voice and his wide-ranging artistic capabilities. He is also the winner of the prestigious George London Prize of the Vienna State Opera.

As son of Austrian immigrants, he was born in Brooklyn, New York which is why music from exile componists is a project personally important to him.

His career started at the Landestheater in Linz and the Neue Oper Vienna and since then, he has been invited to sing in theaters in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, and China. He is currently engaged at the Nationaltheater in Mannheim and the Vienna Volksoper. As a concert singer, he performs regularly in Vienna’s Konzerthaus, and has also sung in the Musikverein Vienna, New York’s Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Munich’s Am Gasteig, as well as the Musikhalle in Hamburg.

Pamelia Stickney has become one of the most sought-after artists of the theremin, performing and recording worldwide with diverse artists such as David Byrne, Simone Dinnerstein, Yoko Ono, Grace Jones, Otto Lechner, Arthur Blythe and most recently with the Cape Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jung-Ho Pak.

On September 9, 2016, Pamelia will play amongst other artists at the Sonic Circuits, a Washington DC festival for experimental music.

Pamelia's background with string instruments and as a jazz bass player influenced her signature playing techniques, expanding the expressive possibilities of the instrument as displayed in her TED TALK.

In 2003, she began to perform her solo “theremin orchestral” pieces in which she composes and/or improvises using looping pedals, which led to her debut solo album “Thinking Out Loud” released on John Zorn's Tzadik label. In 2005, she moved to Vienna where she recently cofounded the band Blueblut with whom she also tours extensively and has released two further albums to date.

Youthful vigor, passion on stage and compelling playfulness, all based on a profound knowledge of sound perception and chamber music structures. This is how you would describe the musical trinity, which has been known since 2008 as the TRIO ALBA.

TRIO ALBA - an allusion to alba (ital. sunrise, dawn) and the Swedish song “se solen sjunker”, that inspired Franz Schubert to the second movement of his Piano Trio in E-flat major.

They have matured and developed through worldwide performances in small and large concert halls, through award-winning CD-productions as well as intensive chamber music studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. There, the three met and found to a joint music-making: the German violinist Livia Sellin, the Austro-Italian cellist Philipp Comploi and the Chinese pianist Chengcheng Zhao.

In the summer of 2014, the Trio was invited to chamber music Festivals in New York and Canada, where they performed the world premiere of the third Piano Trio by Kelly-Marie Murphy, a work dedicated to the TRIO ALBA.

They are the last survivors and witnesses. They speak up and tell us their stories. Stories about how they escaped and survived from the Holocaust. How much longer will we be able to listen to their testimonies?

Over 75 years after the Shoah seven survivors share their terrible experiences and stories about colleagues who turned into robbers, neighbors into murderers, and friends into traitors. Together with ensemble members of Vienna's Burgtheater these Last Witnesses bring their memories back on stage.

Produced and directed by former Burgtheater Director Matthias Hartmann and the acclaimed Israeli-Austrian writer Doron Rabinovici, the original Burgtheater performance will be presented in a special screening of the 2013 recording. The subtitled screening will be followed by a talk with former Washington Post Editor and current Opinion Editor of Moment Magazine Amy E. Schwartz and Ari Rath, one of the protagonists.

ABOUT ARI RATHAri Rath (born 1925) is an Austrian-Israeli journalist and writer, born and raised in Vienna. After the 1938-Anschluss he came as a thirteen-year-old Boy through the Youth Aliah to the Palestine. As one of the founders of the kibbutz Hamadia he studied contemporary history and economics. After turning to journalism he became editor and editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. At the age of 91, he continues to be active as a journalist and author, as well as promotor of dialogue between cultures and civilizations. He lives in Vienna and Jerusalem.

Tatiane Silva Hofstadler, a native Brazilian, lived in Austria, India and Japan before moving to Washington, DC in 2011. She started her artistic journey at the Corcoran College of Art and Design where she received her Certificate in Fine Art in 2015.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:"When you first encounter the work of Tatiane Hofstadler, you will immediately respond to the aspects of nature that it evokes. But it is nature at its most basic form, the elements: earth, wind, fire and water.

You will experience an unexpected and visceral response to her work that goes beyond the elements, beyond the seasons that you cannot define. Is this a fifth element, an unidentified season? Or is it something else? The feelings you will have are those of the passion with which the artist imbues the canvas. What you will experience is the magic of color and texture at its best. You will experience quintessence.

Prepare to be transported at the exhibit, QUINTESSÊNCIA, where Tatiane Hofstadler shares the spirit, passion and magic of her work at its finest. At QUINTESSÊNCIA, let her work speak to you in a language only you can hear and comprehend. Let it transport you to a time and place you never knew existed. Let her work move you in ways you never expected.

Experience QUINTESSÊNCIA, a fifth element, an undiscovered season and catch a glimpse of a world transformed by Tatiane Hofstadler". (Credits: Maritza Rivera, Poet and Publisher, Casa Mariposa Press)

The multifaceted vocalist-composer and actress Lana Is has already won widespread acclaim in Europe, both for her own visionary releases, her acting work and for her work as a versatile collaborator who has lent her talents to a diverse array of projects with a wide assortment of rock, pop, contemporary classical and jazz musicians such as John Medeski, Kenny Wollesen, Dan Weiss, Michael Mantler, Manu Delago (Bjork) and many more.

Lana Is (born Lana Cencic) is the daughter of a well-known family of classical musicians from Zagreb with an avant-garde jazz-pop-rock album recorded in New York, among others with guitarist Brandon Seabrook, known for his John-Zorn-like free-spirited playing.

"In Your Head" her 2013 breakthrough solo album, is widely celebrated by critics and fans alike, establishing Lana Is as a startlingly original creative force with a seemingly limitless future.

On June 14th, 2016, at the Austrian Cultural Forum, Lana Is presents her songs in a quiet, duo setting with Jesske Hume on bass and voice and herself on voice, piano and electronic beats.

The first half of the talk will look at a selection of theatres in different nineteenth-century styles, from Neo-Classical to Art Nouveau, with special attention to the Viennese firm of architects Fellner & Helmer. Between 1870 and 1914, they built nearly fifty spaces for the performance of operas, plays, and classical music. No atelier in Belle Époque Europe was as successful as the team of designers led by Austrian-born Ferdinand Fellner and his partner, Hermann Helmer, born near Hamburg. From Zurich to Odessa, from Hamburg to Sofia, their architectural vision responded to the taste and spirit of an increasingly prosperous and confident middle class. The talk will address the reality of architecture, and touch on the decorative programs that enriched the symbolic and illusionary appeal of Fellner’s and Helmer’s performance spaces. Major artists contributed to the success of the architectural firm. Gustav Klimt, for example, began his career as a painter of ceilings and drop curtains for auditoria and stages.

The second half of the lecture will examine the growing role of posters in popularizing the stage as a nexus for entertainment and education in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy while publicizing singers, actors, and musicians who like theatre architects forged a world of truth and magic.

Posters, as historical documents, will present the rich cultural life in Vienna circa 1900 as well as its international legacy in music and theater from Johann Strauss, Jr. to Franz Lehár and Robert Stolz.

Migration is one of the most divisive issues in American and Austrian politics. The issue dominates the 2016 campaign for the American presidency. A Republican candidate would deport all illegal immigrants, refuse entry to all Muslims, and build a wall between Mexico and the US to prevent Latin Americans from entering. Austrians are polarized by the surge of Middle Eastern immigrants coming across their border, first from Hungary and later from Slovenia. Nearly 100,000 people have applied for asylum in Austria over the past year, raising fears of joblessness, terrorism and cultural collapse. On Friday, May 20, 2016, the Botstiber Foundation is pleased to present a panel discussion on migration issues (including related issues of racism, nationalism and terrorism) confronting both Austria and the United States from the perspective of three leading academics who will compare and contrast the issues that afflict both countries.

The three leading academics are:Farid Hafez, a researcher at the Department of Political Science at the University of Salzburg. He is also the editor of the German-English Islamophobia Studies Yearbook and was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Award for the political book of the year for his German anthology Islamophobia in Austria which he edited together with John Bunzl.

James Hollifield, a Professor of Political Science, Ora Nixon Arnold Chair in International Political Economy, and Director of the Tower Center at Southern Methodist University. As a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center, he has published widely on international political and economic issues, including Immigrants, Markets and States (Harvard UP), Migration Theory (Routledge), and Controlling Immigration (Stanford UP). His current projects include The Emerging Migration State – a study of how states manage international migration for strategic gains.

Tara Zahra, a Professor of East European history at the University of Chicago where she specializes, in part, on transnational and comparative history, nationalism, migration and displacement. She is the author of a new book on a history of emigration from East Central Europe to Western Europe and the United States between 1889 and the present.

Mozart In Vienna presents an opera from Mozart. Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) debuted in Vienna, Austria on May 1, 1786. Mozart's comic masterpiece about love and marriage in the "upstairs downstairs" castle of the Count and Countess Almaviva thrills with Mozart's most magnificent melodies, glorious arias, comic fun and the timeless message of love, fidelity and forgiveness. This special performance celebrates the 230th anniversary debut of Mozart's greatest opera, and shines with internationally-acclaimed singers, costumes and chamber ensemble in Italian with English narration.

The mission of Mozart In Vienna is to present music that Mozart composed or debuted in Vienna, Austria. The years he lived and composed in Vienna are considered some of his most prolific and fruitful, resulting in an abundance of great operas, including Le Nozze di Figaro, and several other notable works. Mozart In Vienna also celebrates Mozart's entrepreneurial spirit, relentless tenacity and his passion for sharing his music with the world, often in spite of astounding opposition and difficulties.

British director and filmmaker Phil Grabsky and Seventh Art Productions are proud to present this new and extraordinary classical music film documentary, which already received great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. The film follows pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on his four year journey to perform and record the five Beethoven Concertos, whilst exploring Ludwig Beethoven’s life as revealed by these masterpieces. This journey took him to 108 cities in 27 countries for more than 230 live Performances. The pianist’s partnership with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra was also captured on disc; The Beethoven Journey, their hit recording series for Sony Classical, proved a resounding success.

Leif Ove Andsnes was born in Karmøy, Norway in 1970, and studied at the Bergen Music Conservatory under the renowned Czech professor Jirí Hlinka. The New York Times has called Leif Ove Andsnes “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight.” With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, the celebrated Norwegian pianist has won acclaim worldwide; the Wall Street Journal named him “one of the most gifted musicians of his generation.” An avid chamber musician, he served as co-artistic director of the Risor Festival of Chamber Music for nearly two decades, and was music director of California’s 2012 Ojai Music Festival. He was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in July 2013.

The Russian Chamber Arts Society strives to enhance the existence of Russian chamber vocal music in the United States. Their repertoire is unique and prolific, and their musical selection encompasses many artists from the 19th century to modern day. The music is highly expressive, lyrical and passionate, and offers a great variety of emotions appealing to all audiences.

The KULTURFORMEN are an organization of the Institution Hartheim, a Care Centre for people with mental and multiple disabilities in Upper Austria. It was founded in 2002, at the same time as the restauration and opening of the learn- and memorial site “Castle Hartheim”. The exhibition will show works of seven artists, who continuously work with the atelier of the Institution Hartheim. Artists: Heliodor Doblinger, Alexander Dvorak, Renate Grohe, Josef Mayr, Andrea Obwaller, Christian Pichler, Franz Scharinger

During the German Third Reich approximately 30,000 people with disabilities have been killed at Castle Hartheim. After the war the castle was given back to the Charity Club (today named GSI = Gesellschaft für Soziale Initiativen). Nowadays Castle Hartheim is known as a hub for art connected to people with mental and multiple disabilities. Furthermore, they pursuit the discovery, fostering and reflection of creativity and artistic expression of people with disabilities as part of an integral development. Besides an atelier and a gallery, the works are archived and scientifically analysed. The Gallery KULTURFORMEN exist since November 2015 in the centre of Linz, Upper Austria.

Josef Ramaseder, curator, artist and associate of the institute, represents the Gallery KULTURFORMEN at the opening. He delivered opening remarks on Kulturformen Hartheim, the artists and Art Brut in general.

Guests will be able to enjoy a complimentory glass of wine while viewing the exhibition.

The Goethe Institut proudly presents a conversation with Author Maxi Obexer.Obexer is an award-winning playwright, essayist, and novelist who is currently the Max Kade Writer in Residence at Georgetown University. For over a decade, her writing has revolved around refugees and those who help, sometimes despite laws that criminalize such assistance.

Maxi Obexer will present excerpts from her recent drama Illegal Helpers (2016), which tells the stories of civil society heroes and heroines before the word ‘welcome culture’ existed. In addition, she will read from her essay “The Longest Summer,” in which she reflects on her own path as an EU citizen from South Tyrol, Italy who applied for German citizenship. She also reflects on and compares her situation to that of undocumented refugees with whom she shares a train to Berlin, and to the complicated status of many migrants living in Europe isolated from one another and yet bound by the invisible threads of bureaucratic terms and categories. Furthermore, Maxi Obexer will discuss her work with Professor Katrin Sieg (Center for German and European Studies, Georgetown University).

Wolfgang Schwaiger has more than thirty-five years of professional experience in industry, and has worked in various management and consulting positions. In addition, he has participated in many extended assignments in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia. His professional focus lies in corporate strategy, communications, capital markets, business and systemic consulting, change management. Furthermore, he has more than twenty-five years experience in teaching at academic institutions, as well as twenty-five plus years experience in charitable and social work.

The topic of his lecture will be „The Value of Diversity of Life". He will talk about how the attitude towards people with special needs developed since the founding of GSI (Gesellschaft für Soziale Initiativen), a non-profit organization for social initiatives, which is part of the Institution Hartheim. Furthermore, he will talk about other institutions and the history of Castle Hartheim as well as the current activities of the organization.

The Austrian Cultural Forum proudly presents two amazing artists.Anyone who hears Friedrich Kleinhapl at a concert will realize immediately - this man is not playing the cello, he isthe cello. His passionate style, his highly individual interpretation, his ability to draw forth inimitable sounds from his instrument, to make it sing - all these characteristics raise Friedrich Kleinhapl above the many other cellists. His virtuosity is not only testimony to his great talent, it is also the expression of an extraordinary life, the product of an unfaltering ambition to achieve musical perfection and the consequence of the drive to abandon the well-trodden paths and break new ground.

An intensive quest and constant search for new and unconventional ways to express music determines the artistic vita of German pianist Andreas Woyke. Woyke's education has been shaped by various international influences. In his work Woyke crosses borders by composing and improvisation, which is a very meaningful part of his life. Woyke is open minded for any styles like rock, jazz-rock, funk, soul, ethno or house as well as the classical epoques and ancient music. In his live concert programs he strives for improvisatory momentum as well.

Since the spring of 2003 Woyke and Kleinhapl have been collaborating very successfully. The duo is performing all over the world and a number of CD-recordings have been published with Ars-Produktion.

Alexei Kornienko is an outstanding musician whose work is characterized both by an unconditional and joyful attention to text and also a boldness in interpretation. This seeming contradiction in fact stands the Austrian-based conductor Alexei Kornienko in very good stead. His work as a pianist of the Russian school, his extraordinarily wide classic and romantic repertoire, is combined profoundly with his work as a conductor, which he has steadily expanded in recent years.

Kornienko has worked with countless internationally renowned orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Orchestra and the Slovakian Philharmonic Orchestra, and he has garnered enthusiastic praise from critics. Born in Moscow, Alexei Kornienko began music lessons at the age of five, studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, in Charkov and was prize-winner at the International Rachmaninov Piano Competition in Moscow. Since his move to Austria in 1990 he has made his name as a respected competition juror as well as a teacher at the Kärntner Landeskonservatorium (Carinthian State Conservatory). He is co-founder of the Gustav Mahler Ensemble and a member of the “Bösendorfer Artistic Club”. In 2000 he was appointed as artistic director of the newly founded “Wörthersee Classics Festival”. His work is documented in numerous CDs. Additionally to the amazing program, this concert will see a special occassion - the American premiere of Gabriele Proy's piano piece "Kigen" (2008).

The Washington International Piano Arts Council presents “An Evening of Classical Piano Music”. The concert will feature Michael Cheung of Paris and Michael Slavin of New York who were winners of the 2015 and 2014 Washington International Piano Artists Competition. They will showcase their talents presenting works of Chopin, Schumann and others.

Washington International Piano Arts Council (WIPAC) was established in 2001 to promote international friendship and mutual understanding among nations, to provide an educational forum for all levels of professional and non-professional pianists, to create a renaissance of interest in the art of piano artistry, and to provide venues worldwide where classical music can flourish in many communities.

The European Division of the Library of Congress proudly presents a discussion with historian Kurt Bednar. Kurt Bednar attained his doctorate from the University of Vienna. He will discuss the trying times of the last American ambassador to Austro-Hungary as that empire collapsed during the First World War.